Height and Weight Estimation From Anthropometric Measurements Using Machine Learning Regressions

• Main Authors: Diego Rativa, Bruno J. T. Fernandes, Alexandre Roque
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2018-01-01
• Series: IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine
• Subjects: Machine learning; statistical learning; health information management
• Online Access: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8327832/

Height and weight are measurements explored to tracking nutritional diseases, energy expenditure, clinical conditions, drug dosages, and infusion rates. Many patients are not ambulant or may be unable to communicate, and a sequence of these factors may not allow accurate estimation or measurements; in those cases, it can be estimated approximately by anthropometric means. Different groups have proposed different linear or non-linear equations which coefficients are obtained by using single or multiple linear regressions. In this paper, we present a complete study of the application of different learning models to estimate height and weight from anthropometric measurements: support vector regression, Gaussian process, and artificial neural networks. The predicted values are significantly more accurate than that obtained with conventional linear regressions. In all the cases, the predictions are non-sensitive to ethnicity, and to gender, if more than two anthropometric parameters are analyzed. The learning model analysis creates new opportunities for anthropometric applications in industry, textile technology, security, and health care.